We need a daily briefing, by jeff rose

First of all, Merry Christmas!!

Now that that's out of the way, I have a little story from the
weekend that highlights Trimet's biggest problem- communication.

Last week I received an email alert (one intended for the public
that I signed up for) that said that from 7 am Friday through the
end of service on Monday (I think) busses would not be going into
the parking lot at Clackamas Town Center. I think it was either on
Tuesday or Wednesday that I got the email. Any of the busses that
serve the Town Center (28,29,31,71,72,all the 150's that go there
etc) would pick up and drop off people around 85th and Monterey.
OK, great!

When I started asking people around the Powell garage- nobody had
heard ANYTHING about this. On thursday, the night before, the
station agent was stuffing notices into the pouches when I was
passing through on my way home and I asked her if they were for the
Town Center changes. Yes, they were. I asked here when SHE had
first heard about the temporary change- She said "less than an hour
ago."

On Friday I didn't go anywhere near the town center- I was doing the
15. I had the weekend off- but on Monday I was doing 72 in the
morning. I checked the pouch after I left the garage- no notice.
In the garage before I left- no notice about the change posted
ANYWHERE. After doing an off-line trip on the westside, I
deadheaded to Swan Island and fortunately I got there before my
leader left and he explained exactly what was going on at
Clackamas. Had I not signed up for public email alerts and had I
not been talking to people about this change- I would have probably
arrived at Clackamas Town Center completely unaware of what was
going on. The best official clue would have been a BDS Message that
read:

"*Clack TC d'heading buses: please do NOT use the BACK entrance to
Clack TC from Sunnyside exit off I-205 use the CENTER lane exit, R-
Sunnyside, R-82, R-Monterey to Temp layover"

?

OK, what does this tell me? If I am clueless about what's going on
I'm going to think that there is an accident or something blocking
the normal "back door" entrance to the town center.

So in any case, what's wrong with posting a notice about the changes
a week before they happen so that operators know what the hell is
going on? Maybe we could actually tell all the passengers that
ride around the Clackamas area a couple days before it happens!!
Also, it would greatly cut down on our stress level if we are
adequately prepared for this kind of thing.

What could we do to set up a system of communications that will
allow operators greater access to this and other kinds of
information that will help us be better prepared in the future?

I would like a daily briefing of some sort posted somewhere in the
garage that gives us the heads up on a variety of things that are
going on around the company. Little snippets with contact
information for the person that we sould have to get in touch with
to learn more- or where to find more info on Trinet!!! In any case,
I'm tired of being out of the loop.

Jeff